Bats in Beds July 2014 Volume 105
Newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Website www.bedsbatgroup.org.uk. E mail: [email protected] Facebook – The Luton Project, The Bedfordshire Bat Group. Blog http://bedfordshirebatgroup.blogspot.com/
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This is the first Leisler’s Bat ever to be caught in Bedfordshire. Photo by Bob Cornes
Editor’s Bit 2
New subscription info 3
The first Leisler’s caught in Beds 4
Nathusius Project 5-6
More on Bat’s tongues 7
Isle of Wight Bat Hospital 8-9
Tiddenfoot Water Park 10
NBMP course 13
Walks talks and stalls 14
Brilliant Bat Photos 15
Flight muscles 16
Why vesper bats are so diverse 17
Confiscation of assets 18
Big Brown Bat 19
Social Call – diary of events 20 Bat Boxes at Harrold Odell 11
AGM 12
Editor’s Bit
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Vol 105
Blimey, this quarter has been crazy.
Every time I thought I had a cover
decided, or the articles to include
sorted, something else remarkable
turned up.
I’ve had to hold back quite a lot from
this edition and have had to use a
shoehorn to get everything in; as it is
I have left out all mention of regular
surveys and June events until next
time. (If you can’t wait, check out the
blog on the website.)
The Nathusius project has been a
major preoccupation (see page 5).
But we have also been busy on a new
bat box project (see page 11) as well
as the regular ones.
Aidan and Colin ran a BCT National
Bat Monitoring Project training
session and Jude and Viv have been
doing talks (see pages 13 and 14).
We were out almost every night in
May, and I must admit I heaved a
sigh of relief when we stopped
trapping in early June because of the
risk of catching bats in the late stage
of pregnancy. The combination of
lure and harp trap has got us a lot of
new records, including the Leisler’s
(Page 4) (she said casually).
What has also been good is just how
many of you have ventured out so
far. Regular surveys have also been
well attended to date.
By the time you read this, it will be
time to get into a faster pace again.
We would not expect anyone to get
to everything, but as they say at
Tesco, “Every little helps”.
New members
The following have joined the bat
group since the April issue of the
newsletter was printed. Those in
bold have already been out with us
Bob Hook (Marston Moretaine),
Claire Dovey (Hitchin), Rebecca
Langton (Baldock), Yan-Yee and
Julia Lau , Lisa and Fallon Wheeler
(Putnoe), Becky Shaw (Flitwick),
Asia (Joanna) and Ralph Davies
(Sandy) (10)
Brave souls who have been out with us between April 1st and June 3rd: Dick and Geraldine Hogg, Jude
Hirstwood, Bob Cornes, Danny
Fellman, Aidan Mathews, Martin
Reed, Angie Cornwell, Viv Heys,
Malcolm Harrison, Alex Cole, Ellie
Beech, Soggy Sabiniarz, Sarah
Hopkins, Yan-Yee and Julia Lau,
Bill Lesley, Alex and ... Champkin,
Tony Aldhous, Jonathan Durward,
Nicky Monsey, Gwen Hitchcock,
John Mark Best, John Day, Dave
Odell, Claire Dovey, Hedj Dollman,
Molly Breed Kemp, Kel Robinson,
Colin Edwards, Tim Robson, Lisa
Mason Phil Gould, Becky ..... Julia
Massey, Peter Heath, Maddy Ryan
(40)
Congratulations To Chantelle
Warriner née Kerr
who got married on
May 30th to John
Wakely, bat group
member and bat
friendly vet, who has
just retired and is
having a great time.
He says he hopes to
find time to come out to some events
now. Bill and Leslie Champkin for
becoming grandparents and to their
son Alex for becoming a dad. To Bill
Champkin who has fallen in love
with his new EM3 bat detector and is
gathering new records at a startling
pace. To Joan Childs, a founder
member of the bat group, who has
started a new job at Wicken Fen.
The BRCC (Bedfordshire Rural
Communities Charity) is putting
together a very large bid to highlight
the Greensand Ridge. They are
calling the project “The Secret of the
Sands” and held a meeting for
possible stakeholders, including the
BNHS, the RSPB and Mid Beds
Council. Most of the bats we find are
distributed along the Greensand
Ridge as that is where most of the
woodland is situated, so Bob went
along to represent the bat group and
was impressed by the scope of the
project.
We have written a letter of support
to go with the revised bid which has
now been submitted to the National
Lottery, and may become a “partner
group” when we have a clearer idea
of what would be expected of us. We
felt we could not do this yet as it was
not clear what would be expected
from us.)
We wish them all the best with their
application to the National Lottery.
If reading this issue makes you think
about coming out with us, please feel
free. We have a lot of events planned
for the rest of the season and
appreciate that the employed cannot
come out to everything, but any help
is greatly appreciated. If you are put
off by the fact that you don’t know
enough, don’t be. At the moment we
have a lot of relatively new members
coming out – and they are learning
FAST.
3
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Vol 105
Please read this article - important changes to subscription arrangements
For several years now, we have
pegged the subscription to the Bat
Group Bat at £8. This covers the cost
of producing and distributing the
newsletter and paying for the
website, as well as covering other
running costs (cake and batteries
mainly), but leaves us little to spare.
(Generally speaking, equipment is
paid for by data searches and bat
care by stalls and talks we do.)
Since that time the cost of postage
and printing has increased (a large
envelope second class stamp now
costs 73p). About half of you have
opted to get the newsletter as a
pdf, and all complimentary copies
are now sent as pdfs, which has
saved money.
There is no intention of stopping
the printed version of the
newsletter, but we do want to
make some changes in order to
avoid increasing the sub. (We are
very grateful to those of you who
include a little extra something with
your sub.)
Your subscription is due in October,
but a number of people are
renewing much later than this. In
the past we have continued to send
everyone the January issue, but
now, in order to save money, we
will not be sending out the January
paper copy unless we have received
your renewal by December 10th.
Folk on the pdf list will receive the
January issue, but you will be
removed from the circulation list if
you have not paid by March 14th
2015.
Those of you who are paying by
BACS, please let Tony know that you
have made the payment, as some of
you are still not making it clear who
you are when paying this way. If you
want an acknowledgement of receipt
then tell Tony this. (We get
statements monthly, so there has to
be a time delay - we cannot use on-
line banking as we have two
signatories for the account and
therefore no single member can
access these accounts.)
I am publishing this information now
in order that you can save up your
pennies.
I will repeat this information in the
October issue of the newsletter.
Yet another new toy
Photo of a harp trap at sunset at Harrold Odell by
Nicky Monsey.
Harp traps are horrifically expensive
pieces of equipment, so although it
was on our wish list we felt that
buying one when the group had just
bought an acoustic lure was out of
the question.
But then two events presented
themselves in quick succession:
Daniel Whitby sourced some traps
direct from their manufacturer in
Australia and was offering them at
much reduced prices, but we still
couldn’t afford one.
Then Jude and Bob went out
shopping to replace their car. This
we managed to do at a lower cost
than we had budgeted for, at which
point Bob had another of his cunning
plan moments. He would buy the
trap with the money we had saved
and we could work out later if we
could get sponsorship.
As soon as the harp trap arrived in
the UK, Bob hot-footed it down to
Daniel Whitby’s to pick it up and the
rest, as they say, is history.
You can see how much use we put it
to if you read on.
4
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Vol 105
Looking at Leisler’s ‘As an optimist, I am sure
that we shall eventually be
able to say with conviction:
“We have at least 12 species
of bat in Bedfordshire”.’
Bob Cornes, October 2011
Photo by Nigel Millbourne
Once upon a time, many years ago, a
Bat Group member found what was
claimed to be a Leisler’s. As he
refused to let Joan Childs or Tony
Aldhous take a close look, the record
is somewhat doubtful. For years now
we have been hearing bats that we
thought were Leisler’s, but their calls
are very similar to Noctules,
especially in cluttered environments
(ones with lots of trees). So the jury
has been out – until, that is, the
beastie on the front cover dropped
into the harp trap seconds after Bob
had started playing the Leisler’s call
o n the autolure.
This is the first Leisler’s we have ever
caught in the county, so you can
imagine the excitement (Dave Odell
almost died and went to heaven and
has called it his best night of bat
watching night ever).
A few years ago we regarded any big
bat call as belonging to a Noctule;
now we have been painstakingly
looking at recordings to double
check that the call isn’t a Leisler’s or
a Serotine. (We are getting adept at
identifying Serotines, but Leisler’s
are still hellish.)
Lisa Mason recognised
(correctly) a Leisler’s in
2012 during a
Bechstein’s survey.
This year we made a
recording over the lake
at Harold and, in a
clutter-free environment,
were able to identify a
definite Leisler’s so
when we resume
trapping, it’s back to
HOCP we go.
Nyctalus leisleri is like a
smaller and rather
shaggy Noctule; one of
the older names for it is
the Lesser Noctule. The
outer edge of the ear is
pale, as is the fold of
skin that reaches the
corner of the mouth, and the base of
the hair is dark black-brown. It is a
rare bat with a UK population
estimated to be around 10,000 in 1995
and was placed on the red list of the
IUCN 2006: Least Concern. The
principal threat seems to be habitat
destruction. It is a woodland bat that
prefers to roost in natural holes and
crevices, but will use buildings and
bat boxes. Leisler's forage in open
habitats, especially around lakes and
rivers, also over pastures flying quite
high above the ground (10-70 metres
according to Russ, 1999). Food
typically consists of moths, beetles,
caddis flies and flies caught and
devoured on the wing.
Seen in flight, it is indistinguishable
from a Noctule but it can be readily
identified in the hand by the shaggy
fur on its head and forearms. It was
once called the hairy-armed bat) and
by measuring its forearm length,
which doesn’t overlap with that of
Noctules. Their echolocation calls
are slightly different from those of
Noctules, and we have about 15
records over a number of years that
were identified as probably Leisler’s.
The most convincing, most consistent
and most recent records come from
Priory Country Park where Danny
has recorded bats with calls like
Noctules but a peak frequency in the
mid 20s kHz which seem to be flying
over open water. (Peak frequency is
the frequency at which the bat call is
loudest.) However, when Noctules
fly into less open environments, they
increase the peak frequency of their
calls and make them very like
Leisler’s. In other circumstances,
Leisler’s vary their calls and they
may become very like those of
Serotines. Because bats adjust their
calls to give useful echoes in the
particular surroundings in which
they find themselves, most habitats
cause all three ‘big bats’ to sound
rather similar. We therefore have
quite a few records which are
classified as ‘Noctule or Leisler’s’,
‘Leisler’s or Serotine’ or even
‘unidentified big bat’. What we
needed was to catch one or, failing
that, to have a clear view of a big bat
flying in a very open place with a bat
detector recording which shows the
calls falling no lower than about 23
kHz. Please let Bob know if you see
big bats looking like Noctules flying
in the open when the sound on your
bat detector fades out as you tune
below 20 kHz. The most promising
places are the larger lakes such as
Priory or Harrold-Odell, but these
tend to have so many bats flying
over them that it can be difficult to
listen clearly to one. You can see
more photos of Leisler’s at
http://www.milbourne.net/HOSTED
SITES/blagdonlakebirds/batinfoleisle
rsbat.html (T he rest of the site is well
worth a look. Nigel’s photos are
brilliant.)
Jude Hirstwood and Bob Cornes
5
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Vol 105
They seek him here, they seek him there,
They seek Nathusius everywhere.
This photo of the three species of Pipistrelles being held in the hand of Daniel Hargreaves was set to be the front cover of this
edition but got relegated here when (a few minutes later) we caught a Leisler’s. L to R: Nathusius, Common and Soprano
Pipistrelle. Photo: Bob Cornes
For us, I suppose it all really
started when Daniel Hargreaves
and BCT ran a one-day
conference on Nathusius, hosted
by the YAGWAG group which
had helped Daniel monitor the
Nathusius at Blagdon Lake. In
attendance was John Russ who
started off the hunt for Nathusius.
Since then they have got funding
for a National Nathusius Project.
Daniel and Kate Barlow from BCT
produced a protocol and got the
necessary licences and four bat
groups were picked for the pilot.
These were groups which already
had good evidence of Nathusius.
However, the ever-inclusive
Daniel said that any bat group
with the right equipment could
join in, so we of course leapt on
the bandwagon emboldened by
the discovery of a Nathusius in a
harp trap last year at Swineherd.
Bob combed the bat group
records and then turned his
attention to OS maps, looking for
suitable sites. (Research seems to
show that Nathusius like large
water bodies.)
We began by doing daytime
sorties and followed this with bat
detector surveys.
Stewartby Lake looked
promising, but the light pollution
was so bad there were very few
bats there.
Tiddenfool Lake near Heath and
Reach proved to be a fantastic site
(see page 10), but we have not yet
found a Nathusius.
Once we got a bat recorder record
of a Nathusius, we went onto
Phase 2 of the project and began
to trap monthly. (The licence
specifically allows project
members to trap up to six times a
year in one site and Bob is an
agent on this licence). A bat that is
caught is processed (vital
statistics, weight, gender) and
then ringed. In addition, a small
fur clipping is taken. This is sent
for analysis. The aim is to do
some stable isotope analysis to
see if they can
identify where the
bat has come from.
Poo is also collected
for DNA analysis
wherever possible.
Daniel Hargreaves
came to help us on a
couple of occasions
- including the night
we caught both
Nathusius and Leisler’s.
(Remember that Daniel has been
present on both occasions that we
caught a Nathusius.) Trapping
will obviously not take place
when the females are heavily
pregnant or lactating.
We have spent about 200
volunteeer hours on this so far.
Thanks to everyone who has
helped out – we welcome more
helpers!
We will give you feedback on
how other groups are doing in a
later edition. All I will say for the
moment is: did Steve and Fee
Parker of the South Lancs bat
group really need to find 34 of the
creatures? That’s just showing off!
The Surrey bat group was even
worse, catching five Alcathoe bats
in one night!
6
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Volume 105
A summary of results as of June 4th
The number in brackets after the site name is the number of attempts we have made at harp trapping. You can see just
how useful the combination of lure and harp trap has been in getting records. Aidan has modified his home-made trap
and made a sturdier version which is easier to erect.
Site Reccy Bat detector
survey
Nathusius
detected
Nathusius
caught
Other notable finds
Swineshead
Wood ***(2013)
Barbastelle
Stewartby(1) x x Soprano, common pipistrelle
and Noctules
Tiddenfoot( 3) Serotines
Priory (3) Leisler’s on bat detector
Voldermort*** (3) Leisler’s
HOCP (3) Natterer’s
Leisler’s on bat detector
GrafhamWater*(2) WAB
Stockgrove**(1) Serotine
* Grafham Water is in Cambs, but this survey was organised by Aidan and included other bat group members so I
have included it.
** Stockgrove Lake is probably too small for Nathusius but we are making regular recordings just in case.
*** Voldermort is Tony’s name for a site in Mid Beds whose location we are not revealing.
Stable isotope analysis This is a relatively new technique
which, it has to be said, is yet to
be proved. Common elements
such as phosphorus and carbon
have rarer isotopes which have
long half-lives and can therefore
build up in fur over a long period
of time. The idea is to analyse the
levels of these isotopes as it seems
likely that small differences are
found according to where the
animal is caught. In theory, one
can tell where the bat has been in
recent months (like humans, bats
shed hair over time). By building
up a library of fur clippings over
time, if the technology improves
we may be able to get further
information as to whether the
bats we catch are migratory.
(Remember one of Daniel’s
Blagdon bats turned up in
Holland earlier this year
(Newsletter April 2014 page 9:
Punk Bat).
Further reading This could have been a very much
longer article. But there was so
much else happening that I have
had to be more concise. If you want to read more about
Nathusius and the hunt for them,
have a look at the following
articles in the newsletter and on
the website.
Nathusius pipistrelle
http://www.bedsbatgroup.org.uk/
wordpress/?page_id=2157
Recognising Nathusius calls
http://www.nathusius.org.uk/ID_
echolocation_calls.htm. (This is
Jon Russ’ website which is the
definitive site on Nathusius.)
Newsletter article on pipistrelles
2008-7-all about pipistrelles There is more detail on the
website – click on the May/June
2014 sidebar on any page on the
website.
Officer of the lure Soggy’s bad pun lives on. We
have to take a computer into the
field to play the calls. It is kept
dry by putting the kit into a
waterproof case. Bob has labelled
this with pictures of Inspector
Clouseau – and has also added
the picture below onto the
computer as a screen-saver. His
efforts were made worthwhile by
Soggy’s spluttered reaction.
All I can say is “Just wait until he
gets the T-shirt.”
7
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Vol 105
New Research on Bats’ Tongues
Scientists have known for a long time
that the tongue of the nectar-feeding bat
Glossophaga soricina was covered with
tiny hairs, but these structures were
considered to be passive and unable to
move on their own, like the strings of a
floor mop. The hairs were thought to
have developed as a means of increasing
the tongue's surface area to help the bat
gather nectar as quickly and efficiently
as possible.
Cally Harper, a graduate student in
ecology and evolutionary biology at
Brown University in Providence, Rhode
Island, and her team reanalyzed the
tongue of G. soricina and discovered a
previously unknown network of veins
and arteries that are associated with the
tiny hairs on the tip of the bat's tongue.
"When we saw this, we hypothesized
that the hairs on the tongue tip might fill
with blood and become erect during
nectar feeding," said Harper.
This confirmed that the tongues actually
changed shape in live bats.
The tongue tip becomes engorged with
blood in 0.04 seconds – too fast to
glimpse with the unaided eye.
But a high-speed camera capturing 500
video frames per second revealed that as
the tongue protrudes from the bat's
mouth, the hairs are resting flat against
the tongue. Only when the tongue is
completely outstretched and the tongue
tip fills with blood do the papillae flare
out, perpendicular to the axis of the
tongue. As the hairs fill with blood, they
change colour, from light pink to bright
red.
In their erect state, the hairs not only add
exposed surface area, but also width,
thereby increasing the overall
effectiveness of the tongue as a nectar
mop.
Photo by Jude Hirstwood
Cang Lam, a California-based medical
engineer thinks the shape-shifting bat
tongue could be used as a model for
devices able to wind through small blood
vessels and then later change shape, from
straight and narrow to a circular brush.
"One device I can immediately think of
is a clot retriever for stroke patients,"
said Lam.
Thanks to Elaine Rigby
Source:
http://www.insidescience.org/conten
t/shape-shifting-bat-tongue-mops-
nectar/1000
We had to cancel a couple of trapping sessions due to rain. So, what
did Bob do with an unexpected free evening?
8
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Vol 105
Our Visit to the Isle of Wight Bat Hospital
Kelly Robinson took a well
earned break, but of course
it wasn’t bat-free Photo: Copyright IOW bat hospital
Hedj and I, along with a couple of
friends collect the holiday vouchers
from the paper. With my friends set,
we decided to go south again,
however the south coast got booked
up really quickly and the only area
left was the Isle of Wight. So we
booked up ... plus the only dates
available happened to be my
birthday weekend: hooray!
So I chose to call up Donna Street
who runs the bat hospital and
arranged a visit. I was also invited to
attend a bat walk on the Friday
night, which was great as my mate,
Paula, has never been on one despite
my efforts to get her out. She loved it
as she got to meet a Serotine and a
Noctule. When Graham (Donna's
husband) gave my friend a bat
detector, she was off and we had to
catch her up!
Donna and Graham have been
running the hospital since 1997 and
offer a 24/7 service. The hospital is
ran from their house and is mostly
contained in their sons’ old bedroom
- one way of making sure the
fledglings don't come home to roost!
Plus with their normal jobs they pack
a lot in! They do have volunteers that
go to their house and help them out
and have a friend who recently got a
licence to keep bats and has built a
flight cage in her garden which will
help them greatly.
They have a 77% success rate on
release of bats and hold a licence to
keep up to 50 bats for six months or
longer, which is a required condition
if you have long-term patients/
permanent captives due to bats being
a protected species.
One permanent captive that will get
used for education is a one-winged
Barbastelle who is a recent addition:
they think that someone stepped on
her and did irreversible damage to
her shoulder, so the vet had to take
the decision to amputate whilst she
was with him. I met her whilst I was
there and she has a lovely nature.
What I really wanted to see was a
grey long-eared which unfortunately
they did not have whilst I was there,
but one came in the week after ...
typical!!
One interesting bat I met was
Beswick, a male Pip with most of his
wing membrane missing. Below are
some photos of Beswick both when
he arrived and six months later.
When we met Beswick it was eight
months after and the wing had
nearly all grown back. They are
hoping to flight test him over the
summer and fingers crossed, release
him. It’s amazing how well the wing
has healed.
I know some people don't agree on
naming bats in care, but for these
guys it is the best way to keep track
of the bats at the hospital as they
have a hospital board with cards
with details of the bat and any
medication the bat may be on.
They have two areas for bats: bats
that are needing medication, feeding
by hand and releasable bats on one
side, and on the other side any
permanent guests. They also have a
naming book and go through themes
- Greek gods and goddesses is the
current one with the Barbastelle
being called Aphrodite. They keep
paper records, one of which is a sheet
to send off to Maggie Brown so she
can be kept informed.
Donna gave me some great tips as
well, which I shall pass onto Beds bat
carers, and they have wonderful
support from their 'experienced in
bats' vet who only charges for
consumables (a bit like Acorn house
in Bedford, as they have a good
wildlife policy now) and has no
problem with operating on such tiny
mammals. In fact Donna told me a
story of a bat that died on his table
but he managed to resuscitate it as he
is very passionate.
The hospital is supported financially
by Donna and Graham's pocket and
any donations received, with a lot of
support from the local community.
9
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Volume 105
The local pet store did a mealworm
fund-raiser for them by allowing
people to buy a box for the hospital,
so the next time Donna went to get
some the account had money in it
from donations. They spend
approximately £2,000 per year on
mealworms alone.
Donna also told me about a study
they are involved in currently:
Stacey Wareing from Reading
university “Bats and breathable
membrane”. The membrane goes up
behind the roost bags and is well
stuck down. They are applying
caution with the larger apertures on
the membrane and the bats in the
aviary. It should prove to be a very
interesting paper once it is
completed.
Situated where they are, they
occasionally get the odd European
species as well: Kuhl's Pipistrelle and
Parti Coloured bat have both paid a
visit to the hospital. They also get
phone calls from abroad seeking
advice, which they are always
willing to give - so that's worth
bearing in mind if you need help as
these guys are very passionate,
experienced and friendly!!!
Finally, if you are ever on the island
give them a buzz and pay them a
visit - it’s worth it! Also their
volunteers run a Facebook page for
them now and are revamping the
website, so check those out for more
information on the above , photos of
the hospital and video clips.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Isl
e-of-Wight-Bat-
Hospital/223408724459372?id=223408
724459372&sk=info
http://iowbathospital.org.uk/
Photo by Hedj
Dollman
P.S.
Committee-
Hedj wants
one of
these....
Brilliant cheap detector and a surreal disclaimer
In May Bill Champkin treated
himself to one of the “ultrasonic
detectors” being sold by Argos, for
the bargain price of £8 and waxed
lyrical about it.
I put a post in the Bedfordshire Bat
Group Facebook page and several
other bat group members bought one
and were equally impressed.
They are now available from Toys R
Us for £9.96.
You might be put off by the device’s
cheapness, but it is quite impressive,
and ideal for someone who wants a
starting point. It is being produced
with the Discovery Chanel to
encourage children’s interest.
Bob and Jude bought one to put on
the stall and take to talks and were
greatly amused by the labelling on
the box:
“T he hearing items shown on the
box .... are not included”. Sure as
hell beats “Batteries not included“.
In the same vein as Starbucks
warning you that their cups contain
hot liquid.
Angie Cornwell limped round the first Stockgrove Survey of the year but her injured knee
didn’t appreciate it. She has been told to rest said area for the rest of the season and so she
must sit out the rest of the surveys. Geraldine and Dick Hogg kindly agreed to take over the
co-ordination of the project. We wish Angie a speedy recovery. We are missing her.
10
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Vol 105
A spectacular new bat site in Beds Photo: Friends of Tiddenfoot
It’s a bit embarrassing to admit this,
but in 26 years of the bat group no
one, as far as we know, has ever been
to Tiddenfoot Water Park near
Leighton Buzzard with a detector.
We spotted it when looking for
possible Nathusius sites on an OS
map and, after a daylight reccy
earlier this month, we returned with
detectors on April 8th. As we drove
into the car park we noticed there
were horses in the field opposite and,
as one, thought: “Serotines” (which
like feeding on dung beetles that live
on horse dung).
The site was busy when we arrived -
people walking their dogs or coaxing
reluctant dogs back into cars, people
without dogs strolling for the fun of
it, runners doing a circuit of the lake,
fishermen in the space we had
thought would be a good netting site
– but tonight we were only going to
do a detector survey. Swans floated
impassively and photogenically on
the sunset-stained water, and the
land absorbed the people effortlessly.
It felt like we were the only people
there.
As dusk fell another life form
swarmed over the land. The tree
cover here is well established and
provides lots of cover and the lake
was as calm as a mill pond. Soprano
and Common Pipistrelles cavorted
amongst the trees while Noctules
flew higher in the sky, giving long
echolocation calls to mark their
mastery of the air high above the
lake. Ducks came close to beg, in
vain, for a titbit or two (unimpressed
when we told them we had no bread
and in any case it was bad for them).
We were only 30 minutes into the
survey when the heavens opened
and we retreated, leaving the bats
and ducks to their own devices.
The early finish meant we could look
at the sonograms last night. We had
missed some Myotis – probably
Daubenton’s given the habitat – but
best of all, were able to confirm that
there were indeed Serotines over the
lake.
On May 12th we returned and this
time the rain did not pour down, but
the Serotines did. We had Serotines
on the detector for a solid 20 minutes
and both Common and Soprano pips
were nonstop. In the 89 minutes I
recorded, only three minutes were
without bat calls.
We went back with two harp traps
on May 30th and it was uncannily
quiet. We got to meet one of the
friends who had tipped us off about
a couple of possible roosts nearby.
While she was there, we managed to
catch the first of four Soprano
Pipistrelles.
It was a beautifully warm evening
and there was no moon – ideal
situations for trapping, it might be
thought, but the bats had other ideas.
We caught four Sopranos in all and a
magnificent Noctule, who made it
very clear he was not best pleased
with being caught – and then refused
to leave – which gave us a very good
photo opportunity and Phil Gould a
lot more time handling his first
Noctule.
Photo by Jude Hirstwood
http://www.bedsbatgroup.org.uk/wo
rdpress/?p=8341
Photo Jude Hirstwood
This would make an ideal place for
bat walks now that there are parking
restrictions at Stockgrove. And we
have already agreed to do a walk for
the local Friends group on 23rd June.
We will probably trap there again
later this year.
11
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Vol 105
Bat box project gets the go ahead for Harrold Odell
County Park
Kel Robinson has been
keeping busy
This is something I have been
considering for some time now, just
to see if we have any success like
Danny has had at Priory County
Park, especially as the sites are
similar. The question was 'How to go
about getting any funding?' With the
council cut backs, it was doubtful
that we could get any funding that
way.
Whilst we were out paddling in
February doing the potential tree
roost hunt at the park, we bumped
into Green Space officer Richard and
this idea came up in conversation.
Richard seemed quite keen on the
idea and suggested contacting the
Friends of HOCP group as they may
be able to help towards the funding
of this project.
So with Bob’s help on quotes on bat
boxes a proposal letter was put
together for the group’s next
meeting. Unfortunately the letter was
forgotten about and wasn't
presented, although we weren’t
aware of it at the time.
The beginning of May came, which
was my personal deadline to chase
this up and contact the Friends
directly, but luckily for me, Nicky
Monsey (Batty member) - who was
an officer at Priory Park - has now
moved to HOCP and she offered to
send it to the correct person.
The response was almost immediate
and very enthusiastic. Rather than
waiting for the group’s next meeting,
which was a couple of months away,
David Taylor (Chairman) contacted
the Friends of HOCP committee
recommending that they support the
bat group’s proposal on the 8th May.
By the 11th of May we had the go-
ahead with the full funding from the
friends of HOCP (£400) and Nicky is
going to do a talk for them at their
AGM at the end of July.
So Bob has ordered 4x2FNN, 3x2F
and 3x1FF that were delivered to
HOCP the day after ordering. We
have discussed where to put the
boxes up around the park, and are
planning to refer these suggestions to
Richard and get them up as soon as
possible. We have 28th June pencilled
in for this.
As soon as they start to get used, we
are planning to invite the Friends of
HOCP out on the monitoring
surveys and they are always
welcome on the bat detector surveys
- quite a few of them have now been
out with us around the park.
So, huge thanks to the Friends of
HOCP for supporting this project
and watch this space.
And thanks for Kelly for all her hard
work in sorting this out. She came up
with the locations for the boxes, which
were a very close match to what Bob had
been thinking. (Great minds think alike.)
It may be that the Friends will sponsor
more boxes if the project succeeds in
attracting bats into the boxes. Ed.
New records at Priory Photo by Danny Fellman
Danny is at again, snooping on the
bats that live in the bat boxes at
Priory. In April he found this record-
breaking occupation – nine bats in a
single channel of a Kent box. If you
look closely you can see that a wasp
is in the other channel, which led
Richard Lawrence to suggest that
was why they are huddled up close
together in the other channel
Then in mid-May Danny found
something to beat this – 14 bats in a
Clarke Kent Box (a Kent box with an
additional channel).
No photo of this, as the bats were
very active and Danny did not want
to disturb them.
12
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Vol 105
WAB distribution Photo of an Alcathoe Bat by Milos Andera
Phil Brown came to talk to us at
the AGM in March.
Whiskered and Brandt’s were
first recognised as separate
species in the late 70s.
In 2001, Alcathoe bat was
identified in Greece. These three
bats are very difficult to tell apart
and DNA analysis became a real
boon.
Alcathoe bats have been found in
Sussex Surrey and North
Yorkshire, but none have been
found elsewhere.
Phil Brown’s MSc has been
investigating the distribution of
these bats in the UK and the
Bedfordshire Bat Group helped
him look at two sites: Baker’s Wood
and the site of the lakeside survey.
Phil was hoping to see whether there
was a difference in habitat preference
of the three and designed his
experiment to sample sites near and
away from water. He also set traps
on wood edges and deeper into
woodland.
In all, he sampled 70 sites. He caught
a total of 375 bats, of which 27 were
Whiskered, six Brandt’s and three
Alcathoe. These bats’ identifications
were confirmed by DNA analysis.
The three bats are found in similar
habitats and the thought is that they
are occupying different niches,
feeding on different species.
Phil has collected a lot of habitat
data, and is currently ploughing his
way through these to see if he can
develop a model to predict suitable
sites for WABs (in the same way as
Lia Gilmour modelled Bechstein’s
habitats). He is hoping to do further
DNA analysis on some of the
droppings in order to identify what
insects are eaten by the bats. Phil
asked bat groups to submit WAB
droppings.
The low level of Brandt’s and
Alcathoe make drawing conclusions
difficult.
Phil was amused to discover all three
of his Alcathoe bats were found in
Surrey and Sussex!
Noddy’s guide to DNA analysis
DNA is a double helix. It makes
copies of itself, by unzipping and
new molecules come in to fill the
empty spaces.
Genetic fingerprinting uses primers,
which bind to the DNA. These act as
markers for a particular section of
DNA. (Like putting a bookmark in a
book.) Different primers are used for
different species. Scientists can then
“cut out” sections of DNA and use
these fragments to identify species.
What is crucial is that you use the
right primer. The team analysing
Phil’s samples used a primer which
was not suitable for bats. The first
results he got identified the poo he
sent as belonging to lemurs as well as
several other non-bat species. When
the process was repeated with the
right primer, the results were much
more sensible. The technique is a
robust one and costs about £75 a
sample to analyse.
Just you try getting
me in a bat bag,
mate! Just you try...
13
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Vol 105
BCT NBMP Field Survey workshop - May 2014 at The Lodge, Sandy, Beds.
Aidan Matthews reports
back.
Once again Colin Edwards and
Aidan Matthews were asked by BCT
whether the Bat Group would be
interested in organising a National
Bat Monitoring Project training
session in the Field Survey
methodology. As they are gluttons
for punishment and had nothing
better to do, they agreed to run the
workshop at the headquarters of the
RSPB, based at The Lodge, near
Sandy. We know that this is a bat-
rich site from a regular programme
of transect walks over the last 25
years by Tony Aldhous, with
occasional records of Serotines from
the nearby roost in Potton.
The evening started with an indoor
session and presentation from Colin
on the survey methodology, route
planning, health and safety
considerations and the ID of the
target species using sound files of
their typical calls. These are
recordings of the noise from a
Heterodyne detector’s speaker and
replicate what would actually be
heard whilst performing the survey.
Also included in these sound files are
the 'non-bat' sounds that are
commonly heard, such as keys,
clothing, mobile phones and those
accursed grasshoppers and crickets.
A quiz was held to check that people
had been paying attention and there
was a short break, where people
could get refreshments and eat cake
(well, it is a Bat Group Event, so
there would be cake!).
Aidan then gave a brief presentation
on how to create a survey route, a
roughly triangular transect route
covering one square kilometre made
up of 12 walks and 12 spots, using
the estate around The Lodge and
then handed out detectors to those
that didn't have one to use. Aidan
played a series of target species calls
through the ultrasound speaker,
which allowed the course attendees
to practise tuning in to perform
species ID.
They then headed outside to perform
a mock survey using the Field
Survey methodology, which took
them back up the main drive
towards the gatehouse.
The sky was quite clear and this
made it very light and a bit chilly,
two things that delay the emergence
of bats. The attendees split up into
several smaller groups led by Colin,
Aidan, Tony and Soggy and set off
on the first walk with detectors
tuned to 25kHz to listen for the Big
bats of Noctule, Serotine and
ignoring all other species including
Leisler’s. The bats were playing hard
to get due to the clear skies and the
groups made it to the first stop point.
Here the detectors were re-tuned to
50kHz to listen for two minutes for
the Pipistrelle species and all other
bats were ignored including
Nathusius Pips. Again the bats were
few and far between, with only a
couple of Common Pip passes heard
by the group led by Soggy.
As the groups worked their way up
the drive, the bats started to come in
a bit quicker and this gave people the
chance to ID real bats as they flew
past. This can be quite tricky as they
sometimes pass straight through
without much chance for re-tuning of
detectors before the bats have moved
off. Some of the groups were treated
to circling Common Pips and another
group had a Noctule flying out of
tree clutter into an open space -
which results in a modification in
their calls.
Aidan managed to get several call
sequences from Barbastelle, and
Colin picked up a set of Myotis calls.
The attendees kept their group
leaders busy with queries and calls
for assistance on the tuning in and ID
of the passing bats, but as they
returned to the Lodge they were
gaining in confidence and able to
readily identify the Pips that were all
around.
Several of the attendees signed
themselves up to some of the
unallocated repeat sites that BCT
have on their books and a group of
people in the Biggleswade area
swapped contact details to arrange
undertaking a regular Field Survey
route around the Holme Green area,
south of Biggleswade. There are still
plenty of unallocated sites in the
surrounding counties in both the
Field and Waterway surveys for
people to sign up for: contact the
NBMP team at BCT for more info on
these or get in touch with Aidan
Matthews to get involved within
Bedfordshire.
14
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Vol 105
Bat walks talks and stall
On Apr. 29th Jude and Bob were
incited back to the Langford Beavers
to do another session.
We always enjoy going here
because Les , the pack leader,
has an effortless way of keeping
them in control. They listened
with rapt attention and had
some very astute questions for
us.
Les followed up our visit with a
lovely letter,l which I am
immodestly including here
“I've got to say a massive thank you to
both you and Bob ! The 21 young
Beavers sat brilliantly and were totally
captivated throughout your presentation.
My own young Beaver was still buzzing
with bat facts this morning !
I hope your 'bat hunt' went well last
night - I certainly saw some flying
around outside my house when I got
home later that evening ! ( We left early
to fail to trap Nathusius at Priory
Cheers again and keep up the brilliant
work you do .... hopefully you may have
some future volunteers from our group !
All the best.
Les”
Photo Jude Hirstwo0od
Now Viv Heys has become a lady of
leisure she is taking on some of the
talks – in particular the brownies and
similar as she is an ex Queen’s
Guide.
On May 23rd she headed off to
Dunstable Brownies with the
Powerpoint talk and a beautiful
assistant in the form of Malcolm
Harrison ( it is much easier if there
are two of you )and again it went
really well
Viv writes:
“We received an warm welcome and
the equipment was soon set up and
we were ready to start. Our audience
were attentive and very
knowledgeable. They asked many
questions and took a keen interest in
the bat detectors The toy bat we
took along nearly joined the
Brownies but was allowed to come
home with us.
A very special song of thanks was a
wonderful end to the evening. “
We got a really nice thank you, along
with £25 donation
“Just to say a big thank you for
the talk yesterday, our Brownies
thoroughly enjoyed it and we all
learnt something new about bats!
Once again, thanks for arranging
and to Viv and her glamorous
assistant, Malcolm for delivering
the talk at the right level.”
Walks We did our fist walk of the season a
Hockliffe Grange and saw both
Common and Soprano pipistrelle –
to the delight of the participants. I
guess the danger of looking for
rarities is that we forget how exciting
the more familiar bats are.
This year there are only three walks
at Priory as Danny and Nicky can no
longer do he walks as part of their
contract. They are, still voluntering
and the June walk was fully booked.
We got some very enthusiastic
feedback.
On June 23rd we organised a walk
for the friends of Tiddenfoot Water
Park
Stall Bob and Jude took the stall to an open day at Maulden Woods on May 5th As we
predicted we were not run off our feet and where able to have proper conversations
with people which resulted in several people taking away instructions n how to make
bat boxes and a request for a bat walk later this year
15
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Vol 105
Some remarkable photos
These are some of
an amazing set of
photos taken by
local natural
historian and
naturaist David
Barnes. He posted
them on the
Bedfordshire Bat
Group Facebook
page. We are used
to seeing action
shots by people such as Mervin
Tuttle, and more recently by Daniel
Hargreaves- but these involve
expensive equipment and artificial
“sets”
What makes David’s pictures so
veryimpressive is that he has been
using “point and click” I am very
grateful for him letting us use his
photos and he had explained how he
got the pictures.
“ Last weekend I spotted some bats
(Pipistrelle) out in the evening up at the
stables so over the next few nights I tried
getting some photo's of them in flight. I
started off letting the flash do its own
thing on auto and managed a few bats in
frame but nothing to get excited about.
Having to preset the focus to a point and
wait for the bat to hit the mark is pretty
hit and miss but the location has
potential as the bats are feeding over the
muck heap and therefore restricted to a
fairly small area.
Laurie Campbell first told me about
photographing bats in this way when I
was at Aigas Field Centre on one of his
master class weeks. I didn't have an
external flash gun at the time but having
invested in one last year I'm now
equipped to give it a go. I contacted
Laurie for some advice on camera and
flash settings and he reminded me that it
was the speed of the flash that freezes the
movement of the bat so I needed to
manually set up the flash so that the
flash duration was around 1/5000s. A bit
of Googling for the flash duration of my
flash gun revealed I
needed to set it to
somewhere between 1/4
and 1/8 power. This
effectively reduces the
flash duration as
required but has the
knock on effect of
reducing the effective
range of the flash.
The next night I tried
1/8 power but struggled
to get enough effective
range from the flash. The
following night I tried
1/4 power which gave
me a bit more range and
a little flexibility in the
camera settings I could
use. This was much
more successful and I
managed 3 reasonable
images including 2 bats
in one frame which was
quite impressive given
there were only 3 bats
out!”
Editor’s note I have
incorporated the photo on he right
into my bat talks as it is the best
photo I have seen to point out the
wing in flight
You can see more of his photos
including lots of bird a t
http://djbblogging.blogspot.co.uk/2014/0
3/going-batty.html
16
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Vol 105
Why are Vesper bats so diverse?
Vespertilionids are a large family of
bats numbering more than 400
species across the globe and are
found all over the world, both in
tropical and temperate regions. (All
Britain’s bats except Horseshoes are
Vespers.) Among mammals they are
second only to rodents in terms of
species diversity.
Genome sequencing was carried out
recently for two Vesper bat species to
get insights on their physiology and
longevity. One reason for this
diversity might be jumping elements
in the genome, called DNA
transposons. These are a DNA
sequence that can change its position
within the genome, sometimes
creating or reversing mutations and
altering the cell's genome size.
Vesper bats are known to have high
DNA transposon activity. They are
also more recent in the evolutionary
history of this family than any other
mammal. But why and how the
DNA transposon activity increased
during the evolutionary cycle of
these bats is, as yet, unknown.
Researchers found that the timing of
bat species expansion coincided with
DNA transposon activity around 30
million years ago. DNA transposons
gave rise to the introduction of small
RNAs, called microRNAs, which are
powerful forces of genetic change,
and thus, evolutionary novelties.
The results suggest that transposable
elements have the potential to shift
evolution into overdrive by rapidly
introducing large numbers of small
RNAs. Those small RNAs don't
change the proteins that genes code
for, but instead affect how and when
the genes are expressed, thereby
allowing for rapid changes in the
way organisms interact with their
environment.
The authors further speculate that
the DNA transposon-influenced
diversity in bats occurred at the same
time that the Earth was undergoing a
huge climate change from warm
tropical conditions to a more
temperate climate, called the Eocene-
Oligocene transition, which occurred
33-34 million years ago.
http://www.isciencetimes.com/article
s/7021/20140401/species-diversity-
vesper-bats-linked-jumping-
genes.htm?fb_action_ids=1015204465
4048873&fb_action_types=og.likes
Thanks to Fiona Parker for this
With this ring Photo by Bob Cornes
Ever since we began the Kings Wood
bat box project, the bats have been
very co-operative, moving in much
faster than we had expected.
As a result of this, Bob decided to
begin ringing this year, having been
trained by the ubiquitous Daniel
Hargreaves and ordered rings from
the Bat Conservation Trust.
Last year’s May box check yielded
nothing more than blue tits, so hopes
were firmly reined in when Bob set
off for this year’s May check.
Never second guess a bat. When Bob
staggered home he reported having
found blue tits and several hornets in
the boxes. Much to his surprise, he
only managed 28 boxes. The reason
for this low count was that Bob
found and ringed 42 bats - and had
the numb
thumb
and
forefinger
to prove it.
He and
Mark Best
went back
later in the
week and
checked
the
remaining
boxes,
only three
of which
contained
bats.
This brought the number of bat
boxes which have been occupied by
bats at some stage to a remarkable
85%.
The reason for ringing bats other
than Pipistrelles is to follow in the
footsteps of the North Bucks Bat
Group and try to work out the social
networks which exist in the wood.
P.S. Another 40 bats were ringed on
8th June.
17
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Vol 105
More research on the miracle of bat flight
Bats employ a network of nearly
hair-thin muscles embedded in the
membrane of their inherently floppy
wing skin to adjust the wings'
stiffness and curvature while they
fly, Brown University researchers
report. Birds and insects have stiff
wings, but the new evidence
suggests bats have evolved this
muscular means of preserving or
adjusting wing shape.
"Aerodynamic performance depends
upon wing shape," said Brown
biology graduate student Jorn
Cheney, lead author of the newly
published paper in Bioinspiration and
Biomimetics. "The shape of a
membrane wing might initially begin
flat but as soon as it starts producing
lift it's not going to remain flat
because it has to deform in response
to that aerodynamic load.
"The shape it adopts could be a
terrible one -- it could make the
animal crash -- or it could be
beneficial," Cheney said. "But they
are not locked into that shape.
Because bats have these muscles in
their wings, and also bones that can
control the general shape as well,
they can adopt any number of
profiles."
Cheney wasn't sure what to make of
the tiny
muscles,
called
plagiopatagiales, heading into the
experiments reported in the paper.
They have been known for more
than a century but their function has
never been demonstrated.
When Cheney considered the muscle
function, he estimated that each
individual muscle would be too
weak to reshape the wing. That led
him to form two competing
hypotheses: either that the muscles
would activate together to enhance
force or that these oddly shaped,
weak muscles might exist solely as
sensors of stretch.
Cheney attached electrode sensors to
a few muscles on the wings of a few
Jamaican fruit bats and filmed them
as they flew in the lab's wind tunnel.
One result was that the muscle
activation and relaxation follows a
distinct pattern during flight: They
tense on the downstroke and relax on
the upstroke.
This is the first study showing that
bats turn these muscles on and off
during a typical wingbeat cycle.
Another finding was that the muscles
don't act individually. Instead they
exert their force in synchrony,
providing enough collective strength
to stiffen the wing.
Finally, Cheney found, the muscles
appeared to activate with different
timing at different flight speeds. As
the bats flew faster, they tensed the
muscles sooner in the upstroke-
downstroke cycle.
In other words, the data suggested
that the muscles do not behave
passively but actively and
collectively in keeping with
conditions of flight.
This has implications for the
development of the wings of things
such as drones. Source
:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releas
es/2014/05/140523145348.h
Bat Lit
The Hobbit, chapter 8, Flies
and Spiders, J R
R Tolkien
Thanks Gerald ine
Hogg
“Worse still it brought thousands
of dark-grey and black moths,
some nearly as big as your hand,
flapping and whirring round their
ears. They could not stand that,
nor the huge bats, black as a top-
hat, either; so they gave up fires
and sat at night and dozed in the
enormous uncanny darkness.”
18
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Vol 105
Confiscation of assets following bat crime is a step nearer
One of the frustrating things about
bat crime is that developers have
been getting off with very small
fines. However Richard Lawrence
just sent me this, so hopefully
things may at long last be
changing:
“Following a trial, which took place today at Chesterfield Magistrates Court, Hargurdial Singh Rai and his company ISAR Enterprises Ltd. were convicted of destroying a bat roost. Rai had bought properties in Matlock, Derbyshire which he intended developing. Despite the recommendations of an ecology report, which identified a Brown long-eared bat roost in the loft, he went ahead with his development, ripped off the roof, converted the loft and in doing so destroyed the roost. By avoiding the necessary emergence surveys, licences etc. Rai and his company saved a minimum of £5,737 (figure provided by BCT). The figure does not include any mitigation.
Upon conviction this afternoon, CPS made an application for a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing, which the bench agreed was appropriate. Magistrates committed Rai to Crown
Court for sentence and a POCA hearing.
This is the first time POCA has been considered for a bat persecution case – to the best of my knowledge anyway.
It may be suitable for other cases and help deter others from failing to deal with bats appropriately.”
It is so frustrating when so much
time is put in by police in
pursuing these people when the
end result is disappointing. BCT
has its own wildlife crime officer
in Pete Charleston, who is always
willing to give bat groups advice
and both he and the Bedfordshire
Police have been very helpful
when we have raised issues with
them recently.
A bat rediscovered
A bat has been caught
in New Guinea which
was thought to have
become extinct 150
years ago.
The bat was ethically
euthanized and taken to
the PNG National
Museum and Art
Gallery in Port
Moresby. Specimens
like this are an
important reference for
future research, and
also a good way to
identify species whose
identity cannot be
confirmed in the field.
In March 2014 the bat was loaned to the Australian Museum in Sydney, where researcher Harry Parnaby
identified it as Pharotis imogene – the New Guinea big-eared bat. Hopefully future specimens can be
sampled for DNA and released. Thanks to Elaine Rigby for finding this Source :
http://theconversation.com/lost-bat-species-rediscovered-after-120-years-in-the-wilderness
19
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group July 2014 Vol 105
Big Brown Bats warn others off their foraging areas
University of Maryland researchers
have learned that male big brown
bats in flight use a special call (a
FREQUENCY-MODULATED BOUT)
which is different from the
echolocation calls they use for
navigation. It is a sequence of three
to four sounds, longer in duration
and lower in frequency than the
typical echolocation pulses that big
brown bats use to navigate. It is often
followed by short buzz-like calls to
warn other foraging males away
from insect prey that they are
claiming for themselves. While some
animals that forage in groups are
known to emit calls to attract others
towards food sources, the FMB is
used to repel, not attract, other bats.
It is not known if other bats make
similar calls.
Source:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/release
s/2014/03/140327123538.htm
Geomyces destructans found in more bat species in Czech Republic
While this fungus has caused
devastating declines in North
American bat populations, there
have been no apparent population
changes attributable to the disease
in Europe.
Scientists screened 276 bats of 15
species from hibernacula in the
Czech Republic over 2012 and
2013, and provided
histopathological evidence for 11
European species positive for
WNS. With the exception of
Myotis myotis, the other 10
species are all new reports for
WNS in Europe. Of these, M.
emarginatus, Eptesicus nilssonii,
Rhinolophus hipposideros,
Barbastella barbastellus and
Plecotus auritus are new to the
list of P. destructans-infected bat
species. While the infected
species are all statistically
phylogenetically related, WNS
affects bats from two suborders.
These are ecologically diverse and
adopt a wide range of hibernating
strategies. Occurrence of WNS in
distantly related bat species with
diverse ecology suggests that the
pathogen may be a generalist and
that all bats hibernating within the
distribution range of P.
destructans may be at risk of
infection.
Source :
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:
doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0097224
101 Uses for a dead bat No 86: Provide an inadequate food source
for a hungry insect, which has led to a strange
evolutionary
adaptation.
In desolate caves throughout Brazil,
live Neotrogla curvata, insects that
copulate for days, the female's
penetrating erectile organ sticking
fast in a reluctant male's genital
chamber until he offers a gift of
nutritious semen.
The key to the anatomy and role
reversal might be simple hunger.
Neotrogla species live in extremely
dry caves, where there is not much in
the way of food, save for bat guano
and the occasional dead bat. A
female needs enough nourishment to
make eggs and reproduce, though, so
she likely found another source of
nutrition: her mate’s semen capsule.
In some other insects, males expend
personal resources to create highly
sought-after ‘nuptial gifts’ of sperm
and nutrients that they bestow upon
their mate during copulation.
Although it’s not clear whether
Neotrogla couples do likewise, the
females accept seminal gifts and
drain them even when they’re too
young to reproduce, so it’s obvious
they’re using the sperm capsules for
more than mere reproduction.
If Neotrogla males need to spend
valuable resources producing their
sperm packets, it’s likely they would
be choosy about their mates, which
would help explain why the females
have evolved a penis well designed
to hold down reluctant mates long
enough to wring out all their gifts.
This might be a combination unique
to Neotrogla.
Source:
http://www.nature.com/news/female
-insect-uses-spiky-penis-to-take-
charge-1.15064
20
Bats in Beds The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group April 2013 Volume 100
What’s On To keep really up to date with events, follow what we
do on our Facebook Bedfordshire Bat Group and
Luton Project pages. A list of all this season’s events is
on the newsgroup in the files section (diary folder) on
the calendar on the newsgroup. Social and training
events are on the Events page on the Bedfordshire Bat
Group website. (About us drop down box). Other
events such as box-checking and woodland surveys
will be organised at shorter notice. These will appear
on the newsgroup as dates are confirmed. Maps are on
the website and the newsgroup. If you haven’t yet
joined the newsgroup, e-mail Jude and she will send
you an invitation.
08/07/14 River Ouse survey 21.00
10/07/14 Lakeside 20.50
14/07/14 Stockgrove 20,53
17/07/14 HOCP 20.05
20/07/14 Kings Wood Box
Survey 9.00
24/07/14 Lakeside 20.35
25/07/14 Priory Park walk 21.00
27/07/14 Kings Wood Box
Survey 9.00
28/07/14 Stockgrove 20.35
05/08/14 Priory Bats and boats 29.30
07/08/14 Lakeside 20.10
11/08/14 Stockgrove 20.05
13/08/14 New Luton survey 20.15
14/08/14 HOCP walk 20.20
17/08/14 Kings Wood Box
Survey 9.00
21/08/14 Lakeside 19.45
25/08/14 Stockgrove 19.42
28/08/14 Stockgrove 20.35
28/08/14 Priory Bats and boats 20.00
01/09/14 Sandy 21.45
04/09/14 Lakeside 19.15
05/09/14 National Bat Conference all day
06/09/14 National Bat Conf all day
06/09/14 National Bat Conference all day
07/09/14 National Bat Conf all day
07/09/14 National Bat Conference all day
08/09/14 Stockgrove 19.10
11/09/14 Stockgrove 20.11
18/09/14 Lakesie 18.45
21/09/14 Kings Wood Box
Survey 9.00
22/09/14 Stockgrove 18.35
06/10/14 Surveyors' meeting 19.30
13/10/14 Committee meeting 19.30
PLEASE REMEMBER THAT WOODLAND SURVEYS
WILL BE ARRANGED AT A LATER DATE. CHECK
THE NEWSGROUP. If you aren’t on the newsgroup
contact Jude and she will send you an invitation.
Thanks to everyone who helped with this edition of the
newsletter: Fee Parker, Steve Parker, Tony Aldhous,
Bob Cornes, Danny Fellman, Hedj Dollman, Aidan
Matthews, Soggy Sabiniarz, Kelly Robinson, Geraldine
Hogg, Dick Hogg, Nicky Monsey, Nigel Millbourne,,
Elaine Rigby and Josie Barrett (who proofread this
edition for me).
Printed by Fidelity Printers, Unit 24, Station Road Ind. Est., Ampthill,
Bedfordshire MK45 2QY. 01525 300 001
www.fidelityprint.co.uk/
Who you gonna call? Last minute events
See the newsgroup
Membership/ Sandy survey
Tony Aldhous
Newsletter Website Events Indoor meetings
Jude Hirstwood
30 Park Street, Ampthill, Beds MK45
2LR Tel 01525 403951
[email protected] Mob:07951 072691
Records Bob Cornes
Woodland surveys (Mid Beds)
Bob Cornes
30 Park Street, Ampthill, Beds MK45
2LR Tel 01525 403951
Mob 07845232430
Bat Care Simon Pidgeon
01525 217747
Lakeside Survey
Soggy Sabiniarz
Mob: 07870 747038
Stockgrove & Luton Parkway
Dick and Geraldine Hogg
01582 414057
m.
Harrold Odell Woodland surveys (Bedford)
Kelly Robinson
07903 756477
Priory events Bats in Boats River Ouse survey
Danny Fellman